Occeus Coliad
Occeus Coliad, also known by his Skorpe handle, , is one of the trolls in Vast Error. His associated alchemical sigil is Sulfur and his horns are in the shape of small crowns. Occeus is based upon the 'Mad Scientist' archetype, despite not seeming to truly fit the label. He has many references to 'Frankenstein' based on his character, the obvious example being the naming of his assistant, Rogi. Which is simply 'Igor', the assistant to Victor Frankenstein, spelled backwards. His visor is made specifically to cover up his third eye that formed after a major traumatic incident in his past. This third eye allows him to momentarily see into alternate dimensions, seeing vague figures and apparitions out of his peripheral vision. He sees more when he makes a conscious effort to contact the dimensions directly. He can also constantly hear the low buzzing of static in the back of his mind, but it doesn't bother him so long as he doesn't think about it. He was the eighth troll introduced and the second troll introduced in Act 2. Occeus also stars in his own route in Snowbound Blood, being the only troll of the main 12 to be featured in the Trollodex. Etymology Occeus likely comes from Oculus, the Latin word for eye, befitting of his mutation. Coliad likely comes from Coliadinae, a subfamily of butterflies also known as sulphurs, which matches his alchemical sigil. Biography Six Sweeps Not much is currently known about Occeus before the story begins. However, it has been said in his intro page that he got his Transmuted Epiphysis Cerebri (Third Eye) from a major traumatic event. It is unknown if this event took place before or after he was six sweeps of age, but knowing the patterns within the comic it seems rather likely. Prior to the incident that gave him his third eye, Occeus was more invested in his relationships, having once been the moirail of Calder Kerian and the kismesis for Taz. Pre-game Occeus is first seen finally contacting Ellsee after she messaged him many days prior. The two discuss the implications of a possible breakthrough in is work, while Occeus apologizes for not giving Ellsee enough attention. Ellsee voices her support in Occeus's scientific pursuits while Occeus emphasizes the importance of the work he does and that the time he spends away from her will have been for the greater good as he plans reinvigorate their world. This conversation would leave Ellsee feeling needy and unlikable. Occeus is next seen performing a revitalization experiment on a deceased troll, which results in a partial success -- the experiment revitalized him but the troll remains unintelligent and aggressive. This forces Occeus solemnly to eliminate the troll and mark the current experiment as a failure. He takes a moment to check his computer once again while Rogi disposes of the corpse. He finds a series of messages from a distressed Ellsee. Occeus attempts to comfort Ellsee as she details what she had just gone through earlier in the story. After Occeus had messaged her, Ellsee had gone to attempt meeting up with Arcjec, only to see a meteor hurtling towards his hive. She had apparently found the hive in shambles and on fire, yet not completely destroyed from the meteor, with Arcjec mysteriously absent from the building. In searching for Arcjec, Ellsee had found a mass memo sent out by Murrit pertaining to a mysterious reality-bending game that everyone was involved in (but Murrit had intentionally excluded Ellsee for reasons unknown). Ellsee had then returned to her hive and reached out to Occeus to inform him of the memo as well, knowing that he probably hasn't seen it. Occeus reads the mass memo that Murrit had written after doubting its contents and is distressed at the absurdity, yet possible reality of the situation presented by The Game. It necessitating their leaving of Repiton would end up making his efforts to save it completely irrelevant. Having learned that he's meant to work with Calder in the game along with this, an outraged Occeus messages the sea dweller. Calder tersely tells Occeus that he's no more involved in the situation than Occeus is, and that they are both powerless to do anything but go along with it. Calder tells Occeus that he will message him again when it's their turn to enter the game even though he too is less than happy with that arrangement, and ceases messaging a fuming Occeus. Occeus is included in Ellsee's memo, but does not respond to it. During the Game Occeus has not currently been shown to have entered the game. Personality and Traits As a scientist and engineer, Occeus is characterized by his empirical outlook on life and how it works. He is ambitious, yet detached, and fiercely dedicated to his work. He works towards the continued survival of his decaying planet and towards undoing the parasitic undead plague that ravages its population in the hope that he can return souls from a supposed entropy, and find the secret of untethered immortality. His dedication for this goal has led him to neglect his personal relationships and abandon his few non-work related pastimes. As such, he doesn't have a lot of close or personal relationships. His logic based assumptions makes him unlikely to entertain the concepts related to the supernatural or anything he considers absurd. When confronted with some of these concepts, such as the reality-bending nature of The Game, he struggles to accept the matter as truth. He is also outraged at the realization that The Game requires him to leave Repiton, which would make his work to save it irrelevant. Relationships Ellsee Raines Ellsee and Occeus are matesprits, and unique to the other relationships in the cast aside from Murrit and Dismas, have been sexually intimate with one another. Due to Occeus' workaholic nature and his desperation to preserve his planet, Occeus is unfortunately rather neglectful of Ellsee, leaving her to suffer from symptoms not unlike withdrawal in his absence (as is the case for Repitonian trolls who have been intimate with another and do not see each other for extended periods of time). Occeus regrets this, and realizes that Ellsee deserves better, but will nonetheless prioritize his work over her. Ellsee often volunteers the use of her lime blood for Occeus to use in his biological experiments, due to the blood's unique life-bearing properties. Occeus is the only troll that Ellsee trusts with her blood. Taz Taz occasionally fluctuates into the ashen quadrant with Occeus, with Albion acting as mediator. This would indicate some enmity between the two. The two appear to have been involved in a now-ended black relationship with one another. Laivan Ferroo Laivan and Occeus are work colleagues; Laivan stitches up corpses that Occeus finds for the sake of his revitalization experiments. Calder Kerian It has been shown that Occeus and Calder had a -- now-ended -- pale relationship with one another. From Calder's account, it appears that Occeus abruptly ended their relationship and has been distant from Calder for some time. Calder is visibly bitter about it. Albion Shukra Due to the likely tumultuous relationship between Taz and Occeus, Albion is often pulled to act as mediator when they enter the ashen quadrant part-time. It is unknown what Albion and Occeus' personal relationship is like, as they have yet to interact in-comic. Rogi Rogi is Occeus' assistant in his scientific pursuits. The creature was the result of one of Occeus' failed experiments, and is consequently unintelligent and largely useless as a result. However, Occeus doesn't seem to mind so much, and keeps the creature around to help with the grizzlier, more menial parts of his experiments, or perhaps because he appreciates the creature's company. Due to the unnatural circumstances of Rogi's existence, Rogi's body is unable to maintain itself and requires regular injection of lime blood to continue existing. Trivia * 'macabre' in his trolltag is a reference to his interest in most things relating to death, such as his reanimation experiments, his study of parasites, and his ultimate goal of trying to 'reanimate' the planet. 'Exude' could be a reference to his normal methods of injecting lime blood into corpses, due to its meaning of a slow and steady discharge. Altogether, the tag can refer to his disturbing presence as a whole. * The '.o.' shape replacing any 'o's in his text is a reference to his three-eyed state, with the two periods being his regular eyes and the 'o' representing his third eye. This places more emphasis on his third eye as opposed to his two regular eyes which could be a way of showing how Occeus is neglecting the mundane things around him in favor of pursuing mysteries and his work. This neglect is clearly shown in Ellsee's state of withdrawal without his presence, as per their coupling. * The pupil of his Third Eye bears a striking resemblance to that of Gaiaeon. It is unknown what exactly this means or if they share any sort of connection. * Occeus constantly dealing with buzzing in the back of his mind, which he can tune out if he doesn't think about it, could potentially be a reference to Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. Gallery occeus.gif|All of Occeus' sprites. rogi.gif|All of Rogi's sprites. Volume5Characters.png|Occeus on the Volume 5 character select. Volume5Header.png|Occeus on the Volume 5 chapter select. Occeus, get bettur juic.png|pre-game Occeus Occeus, headache, clutching head.png|Occeus preparing to enter Occeus, young.png|Young Occeus Category:Troll